Morphological evidence for identifying the viruses of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome as candidate members of the Bunyaviridae Family

Thin section immuno-electron microscopy has been succesfully applied to investigate and identify the classical and mild form of HFRS viruses isolated in the People's Republic of China. The results showed that all 8 strains studied (derived from different parts of China, adapted in different cell lines) share a common morphology and morphogenesis. Essentially, the viruses possess characteristics of members of the Bunyaviridae family, however, differing by a larger size and size variation and formation of cytoplasmic viral inclusions.